A simple job by an emergency plumber cost 84-year-old Alfred Bell and his wife Laurel a whopping £199.

The elderly Middlesbrough couple say the man took less than ten minutes to "suss out" the problem with their leaky kitchen sink.

He then made a trip of around 50 minutes to the supplier to collect parts. And it took a further 15 minutes to complete the job.

Alfred's bill worked out at £110 for labour at £55 an hour, plus parts of £69 and VAT of £20.

Laurel says: "We were reluctant to pay the bill, but decided we had no other choice."

The pensioners' dilemma is almost a carbon copy of a 2004 Watchdog story when we sorted a bill problem for Linthorpe reader Anita Harris.

Both involve Midlands-based plumbing firm, Locks & Leaks.

Anita's bill for removing a waste disposal and fitting a new ball valve and pipe was £275 (at £45 an hour). That job also involved a lengthy trip to get parts from the plumbers' merchant. That was in August and Watchdog won a happy result for Anita.

We contacted trading standards in Sandwell where Locks & Leaks are based.

And after their intervention, the firm agreed to refund the full £275, apologised and gave an assurance new procedures would be put in place.

Now, a similar costly experience left the Bells feeling unhappy enough to write to Locks & Leaks about their engineer's bill.

They heard nothing, so phoned to find out what was happening only to be told the letter had not arrived. That was when Laurel called in Watchdog.

We spoke to David Mitchell, operations manager of Locks & Leaks, but did not get much help.

Then we spoke to another manager, Ian Lampitt, who insisted Laurel's letter had not arrived. We faxed a copy to Mr Lampitt who said he would speak to the local engineer.

Two days later we tried to contact Mr Lampitt again, but despite many calls, he has never been available and has not called back. We have, however, been in touch again with Sandwell Trading Standards, who said: "We can confirm we have been notified of this complaint and we will be taking the matter up."

At the moment that is where it stands, although we are urging Locks & Leaks to refund the money as they did with Anita. * making a false claim about work which needs doing or mis-describing a fault is a criminal offence.

* CHARGING what you like for a job is not.

* SO Watchdog's advice to readers is to protect themselves by asking for the final price of a job to be written down BEFORE giving the final go-ahead.

* If that is refused, our advice is to find someone else to do the work.

HAVE you a consumer issue you'd like us to investigate? Send letters to: Watchdog, Features Department, Evening Gazette, Borough Road, Middlesbrough, TS1 3AZ, fax 01642 232014 or send an e-mail to features@eveninggazette.co.uk

You must be prepared to have your consumer STORY and PHOTO published in the Evening Gazette.

For an archive of this column click on to website www.icTeesside.co.uk/watchdog